An underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for curved hulls

Abstract

The invention discloses an underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot for a curved hull, comprising: a robot box; a cleaning mechanism; a garbage recycling mechanism; two walking mechanisms, which are respectively connected to the robot box through a curved surface adaptation mechanism, and each walking mechanism comprises a permanent magnetic wheel and a transmission box connected to the permanent magnetic wheel; the curved surface adaptation mechanism comprises a hydraulic cylinder and an elastic hinge; the elastic hinge is connected between the robot box and the transmission box; the two ends of the hydraulic cylinder are respectively connected to the robot box and the transmission box through a rotating pair to drive the transmission box to rotate; sonic wave sensors for detecting the curvature radius of the hull where the walking mechanism is located are arranged on both sides of the robot box; the control system controls the corresponding curved surface adaptation mechanism to adjust the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheel of the walking mechanism according to the curvature radius, so that the walking surface of the permanent magnetic wheel fits and adsorbs on the hull surface, and ensures that the permanent magnetic wheel can adsorb on the hull surface with different curvature radii.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of robots, and in particular to an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull. Background Art

[0002] Seawater is rich in a variety of salts and is a highly corrosive electrolyte solution. Ocean-going ships sail in the sea for a long time, and their metal bottoms are in continuous contact with seawater, which is prone to electrochemical corrosion and causes rust on the bottom of the ship. At the same time, a large number of difficult-to-remove marine organisms are attached to the bottom of the ship, which increases the ship's navigation resistance, increases the ship's fuel consumption, reduces the ship's navigation speed, and shortens the ship's service life. At present, the ocean-going shipping industry mostly uses a tracked wheel magnetic adsorption vertical wall-climbing robot cleaning method to clean the rust and marine organisms on the bottom of the ship to increase the service life of the ship. This robot cleaning method requires that the curvature radius of the ship's hull be small enough, and the tracked permanent magnetic wheel is difficult to turn on the surface of the hull, so the applicable working environment is limited. At the same time, the marine garbage cleaned by this type of robot through the jet is difficult to recycle, causing certain pollution to the marine ecological environment. The present invention designs an underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot suitable for irregular curved hulls, which can realize the cleaning and recycling functions of marine organisms and rust attached to the bottom of the ship, and has the characteristics of high cleaning efficiency and low environmental pollution. Summary of the invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull, which can adapt to hull surfaces with different curvature radii by adopting a wheeled walking mechanism in conjunction with a curved surface adaptation mechanism.

[0004] The technical solution of the present invention is an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull, comprising:

[0005] Robot box;

[0006] A cleaning mechanism, comprising a four-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm mounted on a robot box and a jet nozzle mounted at the end of the four-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm;

[0007] The garbage recycling mechanism comprises a garbage recycling pipeline, a spiral centrifugal pump connected to the end of the garbage recycling pipeline, and a filter recycling box connected to the outlet of the spiral centrifugal pump; a crushing screw is arranged in the garbage recycling pipeline to crush and transport the garbage by rotating;

[0008] Two walking mechanisms are respectively arranged on both sides of the robot box and connected to the robot box through a curved surface adaptation mechanism, and each walking mechanism includes a permanent magnetic wheel and a transmission box connected to the permanent magnetic wheel;

[0009] The curved surface adaptation mechanism includes a hydraulic cylinder and an elastic hinge; the elastic hinge is connected between the robot box and the transmission box; two ends of the hydraulic cylinder are respectively connected to the robot box and the transmission box through a rotating pair to drive the transmission box to rotate;

[0010] The steering mechanism is arranged at the bottom of the robot box, and includes a permanent magnetic universal wheel and a spring shock absorbing mechanism;

[0011] The control system is respectively connected with the cleaning mechanism, the garbage recycling mechanism, the walking mechanism, the curved surface adaptation mechanism and the steering mechanism; acoustic wave sensors are also arranged on both sides of the robot box for detecting the curvature radius of the hull where the walking mechanism is located; the control system controls the corresponding curved surface adaptation mechanism to adjust the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheel of the walking mechanism according to the detected curvature radius, so that the permanent magnetic wheel fits and is adsorbed on the surface of the hull.

[0012] A further improvement of the present invention is that a screw propeller is respectively provided at the four corners of the robot box, each of the screw propellers is electrically connected to the control system, and the underwater posture of the underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot is adjusted under the control of the control system.

[0013] A further improvement of the present invention is that a camera located in front of the cleaning mechanism is arranged on the robot box, and the camera is electrically connected to the control system.

[0014] A further improvement of the present invention is that the control system is connected to a communication system, and the control system transmits back the image captured by the camera through the communication system.

[0015] A further improvement of the present invention is that: the robot box is provided with spotlights located on both sides of the cleaning mechanism.

[0016] A further improvement of the present invention is that the two hydraulic cylinders of the curved surface adaptation mechanism are connected to the servo hydraulic pump station through hydraulic oil pipes; a two-way hydraulic lock is provided on a hydraulic oil pipe connected to the hydraulic cylinder, and the two-way hydraulic lock is used to control the hydraulic cylinder to stop at any position and prevent the hydraulic oil from flowing back, thereby supporting the walking mechanism to be adsorbed on the surface of the hull at any time during the operation of the hydraulic cylinder.

[0017] A further improvement of the present invention is that the garbage recycling mechanism also includes a first motor for driving the crushing screw to rotate and a second motor for driving the spiral centrifugal pump.

[0018] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: by setting up a garbage cleaning and recycling device, the garbage swept by the cavitation jet can be crushed and recycled, thereby minimizing the pollution of the marine ecological environment; by setting up hydraulic cylinders on both sides of the robot's walking mechanism, the control mechanism is connected with the hydraulic pump station and the two-way hydraulic lock to control the extension and retraction of the hydraulic cylinder to realize the rotation of the transmission mechanism around the fixed hinge, so that the walking surface of the permanent magnetic wheel is always in contact with the surface of the hull, ensuring that the permanent magnetic wheel can be adsorbed on the hull surface with different curvature radii, thereby enhancing the adsorption stability of the robot. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 2 It is a front structural schematic diagram of an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the right side structure of an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the control system of an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 5 The present invention discloses a working flow chart of an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Example: Combination Figure 1 , Figure 2 as well as Figure 3 This embodiment provides an underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull, which includes: a robot box, a cleaning mechanism, a garbage recovery mechanism, a walking mechanism, a curved surface adaptation mechanism, a steering mechanism and a control system. Specifically:

[0025] The robot box is square, and the two sides of its bottom surface extend to the side to form wing plates. The inside of the robot box is divided into an upper layer and a lower layer by a partition. A distribution box 28 is arranged on the upper layer of the robot box for supplying power to various devices.

[0026] The cleaning mechanism includes a four-degree-of-freedom robot arm 4 mounted on the top surface of the robot box and a jet nozzle mounted at the end of the four-degree-of-freedom robot arm 4. The jet nozzle is used to spray water to form a cavitation jet to clean the surface of the hull, so that the garbage attached to the surface of the hull is separated from the hull. The four-degree-of-freedom robot arm 4 is used to transport the jet nozzle to the cleaning position.

[0027] The garbage recycling mechanism is arranged on the upper layer of the robot housing, and includes a garbage recycling pipeline 13, a spiral centrifugal pump 27 connected to the end of the garbage recycling pipeline 13, and a filter recycling box 26 connected to the outlet of the spiral centrifugal pump 27. A crushing screw 14 is arranged in the garbage recycling pipeline 13 to crush and transport the garbage by rotation. The garbage recycling mechanism also includes a first motor to drive the crushing screw 14 to rotate and a second motor to drive the spiral centrifugal pump 27.

[0028] The inlet of the garbage recovery pipeline 13 is used to absorb the garbage washed down by the cleaning mechanism, and the garbage is crushed by the crushing screw 14. The crushed garbage is sucked in during the rotation of the spiral centrifugal pump 27 and transported to the filter recovery box 26 for filtering and collecting the garbage.

[0029] The two walking mechanisms are respectively arranged on both sides of the robot housing and connected to the robot housing through a curved surface adaptation mechanism. Each walking mechanism includes a permanent magnetic wheel 9 and a transmission box 10 connected to the permanent magnetic wheel 9 through a transmission shaft 19, and the transmission box 10 is used to drive the permanent magnetic wheel 9 to rotate. A permanent magnet is arranged on the walking surface of the permanent magnetic wheel 9 for adsorption to the surface of the hull.

[0030] Each curved surface adaptation mechanism includes a hydraulic cylinder 11 and an elastic hinge 17. The elastic hinge 17 includes two hinged connecting plates, one of which is connected to the side plate of the robot box by screws, and the other connecting plate is connected to the top of the inner side surface of the transmission box 10 by screws. The pivots of the elastic hinges 17 of the two curved surface adaptation mechanisms are parallel. The two ends of the hydraulic cylinder 11 of the hydraulic cylinder 11 are respectively connected to the robot box and the transmission box 10 through a rotating pair. In this embodiment, the hydraulic cylinder 11 is rotationally connected to the bottom of the inner side surface of the transmission box 10, and the other end is rotationally connected to the upper surface of the bottom plate of the robot box through the slot hole of the side wall of the robot box. When the hydraulic cylinder 11 rotates, it can push the corresponding walking mechanism to rotate along the corresponding pivot of the elastic hinge 17, so that the angle of the walking surface of the corresponding permanent magnetic wheel 9 changes to adapt to the hull surface with different curvature radii.

[0031] In a specific embodiment, the hydraulic cylinders 11 of the two curved surface adaptation mechanisms are connected to the servo hydraulic pump station 21 through hydraulic oil pipes; a bidirectional hydraulic lock 12 is provided on a hydraulic oil pipe connected to the hydraulic cylinder 11. The servo hydraulic pump station 21 supplies oil to the hydraulic cylinders 11 of the two curved surface adaptation mechanisms. The bidirectional hydraulic lock 12 is controlled by a control system. The bidirectional hydraulic lock is used to control the hydraulic cylinder to stop at any position and prevent the hydraulic oil from flowing back, so that the walking mechanism can be supported to be adsorbed on the surface of the hull at any angle at any time during the operation of the hydraulic cylinder.

[0032] The steering mechanism is arranged at the bottom of the robot box, and includes a permanent magnetic universal wheel 29 and a spring damping mechanism 30. The permanent magnetic universal wheel 29 can increase the adsorption curved hull area of ​​the underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot, support the underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot, and change the working movement direction of the robot; the spring damping mechanism 30 is used to offset the overturning moment generated by the cleaning mechanism when cleaning the hull.

[0033] The control system is connected to the cleaning mechanism, the garbage collection mechanism, the walking mechanism, the curved surface adaptation mechanism and the steering mechanism respectively; the skirts on both sides of the robot box are also provided with acoustic wave sensors 22 for detecting the curvature radius of the hull where the walking mechanism is located. The control controls the corresponding curved surface adaptation mechanism to adjust the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheel 9 of the walking mechanism according to the detected curvature radius, so that the permanent magnetic wheel fits and adsorbs on the surface of the hull.

[0034] The principle of the acoustic sensor 22 is: the acoustic sensor 22 emits a pulse signal to form a fan-shaped scanning area, and each pulse contains multiple acoustic beams arranged at the same interval. After the acoustic sensor 22 receives the signal reflected by the target object (hull surface), it combines the reflected beam pointing, amplitude and phase detection technologies to obtain the curvature radius and position information of the detected area. Combined with the motion trajectory of the underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot and the curvature radius and position information obtained by multiple detections, the surface shape of the hull in the adjacent area can be interpolated and inferred. During the adsorption and walking process, the underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot calculates the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheels 9 of the two walking mechanisms according to its own position, so that the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheels 9 is kept in contact with the hull surface.

[0035] In this embodiment, a screw propeller 1 is respectively provided at the four corners of the robot box, and each screw propeller 1 is electrically connected to the control system and adjusts the posture of the underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot during underwater navigation under the control of the control system.

[0036] The robot box is provided with a camera 6 located in front of the cleaning mechanism, and the camera is electrically connected to the control system. The camera 6 is used to take real-time underwater images. The robot box is provided with spotlights 8 located on both sides of the cleaning mechanism, and the spotlights 8 are used to provide lighting for the camera 6.

[0037] The control system is connected to a communication system, and the control system transmits the images taken by the camera 6 back to the control center on the water through the communication system, and acutely controls the robot according to various instructions from the control center.

[0038] Combination Figure 4, is a schematic diagram of the control system of an underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot for a curved hull disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the control system adopts an STM32 single-chip microcomputer, the camera 6 and the display are connected to the STM32 single-chip microcomputer through a USB interface, and the camera 6 transmits the underwater picture to the STM32 single-chip microcomputer in real time after it is turned on, and the operator on the shore determines the cleaning position through the picture displayed on the display; the cleaning system is connected to the STM32 single-chip microcomputer through the GPIO port, and after determining the cleaning position, the operator controls the movement of the four-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm 4 through the STM32 single-chip microcomputer control system; the positioning system is connected to the STM32 single-chip microcomputer through the COM4 port, and the positioning system transmits the coordinates of the cleaning robot to the STM32 single-chip microcomputer for recycling after the cleaning is completed; two acoustic wave sensors 2 2 is connected to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer through the RS485 port, the acoustic sensor 22 detects the surface curvature radius of the cleaning robot adsorbing the hull, and transmits the detection data to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer for processing, the servo hydraulic pump station 21 is connected to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer through the GPIO port, the stm32 single-chip microcomputer processes the information transmitted by the acoustic sensor 22, and controls the extension and retraction of the two hydraulic cylinders 11 through the control system to ensure that the permanent magnet wheel 9 is completely adsorbed on the surface of the hull; the communication system is connected to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer through the RX / TX port to complete the signal transmission and reception functions; the walking system is connected to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer through the GPIO port. During the cleaning process, the stm32 single-chip microcomputer control system controls the movement of the robot underwater by controlling the walking system of the cleaning robot.

[0039] Combination Figure 5, is a workflow diagram of an underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot for a curved hull disclosed in an embodiment of the present invention. The specific working process of an underwater garbage cleaning and recycling robot for a curved hull is as follows: the control system is initialized, the robot is launched, the robot lighting system is turned on, and after reaching the specified position, the permanent magnetic wheel 9 is adsorbed on the surface of the hull, at which time the acoustic wave sensor 22 and the camera 6 on the robot start working; the acoustic wave sensor 22 transmits the hull surface curvature radius data to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer, the stm32 single-chip microcomputer processes the collected data, and determines whether the corresponding two permanent magnetic wheels 9 are completely adsorbed on the hull surface to be cleaned. If the permanent magnetic wheels 9 are completely adsorbed on the hull surface, the camera 6 transmits the underwater hull status to the stm32 single-chip microcomputer, and the onshore operator determines the cleaning position after observing through the display. At the same time, the onshore operator The operator controls the four-degree-of-freedom robotic arm 4 to move to the vicinity of the required cleaning position through the stm32 single-chip microcomputer control part. After determining that it has reached the designated position, the stm32 single-chip microcomputer control system controls the jet nozzle for cleaning. After the jet nozzle starts working, the stm32 single-chip microcomputer control system controls the rotation of the spiral centrifugal pump 27 and the motor of the crushing screw 14. The impeller of the spiral centrifugal pump 27 rotates to generate suction to suck the garbage cleaned by the jet nozzle into the garbage recovery pipeline 13. The crushing screw 14 set in the garbage recovery pipeline 13 rotates to transport the garbage and crush the garbage by extrusion at the same time. The crushed garbage enters the interior of the spiral centrifugal pump 27. Due to the centrifugal action of the impeller of the spiral centrifugal pump 27, the crushed garbage is thrown out into the filter recovery box 26 connected to the spiral centrifugal pump 27 to achieve separation of seawater and garbage. If the two permanent magnet wheels 9 are not completely adsorbed on the surface of the hull to be cleaned, the STM32 single-chip computer determines the amount of oil required for the extension and retraction of the two hydraulic cylinders 11 based on the hull surface curvature radius data detected by the acoustic sensor 22, and the STM32 single-chip computer control system controls the servo hydraulic pump station 21 to supply oil to the two hydraulic cylinders 11 respectively. After the hydraulic cylinders 11 receive oil, the push rods respectively extend and retract a certain length, driving the two transmission boxes 10 to rotate a predetermined angle around the pivot of the corresponding elastic hinge 17, so that the two permanent magnet wheels 9 are completely adsorbed on the surface of the hull to be cleaned, and repeat the above-mentioned cleaning action when the permanent magnet wheels are completely adsorbed on the hull surface.

[0040] The preferred specific embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above. It should be understood that a person skilled in the art can make many modifications and changes based on the concept of the present invention without creative work. Therefore, any technical solution that can be obtained by a person skilled in the art through logical analysis, reasoning or limited experiments based on the concept of the present invention on the basis of the prior art should be within the scope of protection determined by the claims.

Claims

1. An underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull, characterized in that include: Robot box; The cleaning mechanism comprises a four-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm (4) mounted on a robot box and a jet nozzle mounted at the end of the four-degree-of-freedom mechanical arm (4); The garbage recycling mechanism comprises a garbage recycling pipeline (13), a spiral centrifugal pump (27) connected to the end of the garbage recycling pipeline (13), and a filter recycling box (26) connected to the outlet of the spiral centrifugal pump (27); a crushing screw (14) for crushing and conveying garbage by rotating is arranged in the garbage recycling pipeline (13); Two walking mechanisms are respectively arranged on both sides of the robot box and connected to the robot box via a curved surface adaptation mechanism, each of the walking mechanisms comprising a permanent magnetic wheel (9) and a transmission box (10) drivingly connected to the permanent magnetic wheel (9); The curved surface adaptation mechanism comprises a hydraulic cylinder (11) and an elastic hinge (17); the elastic hinge (17) is connected between the robot housing and the transmission box (10); two ends of the hydraulic cylinder (11) are respectively connected to the robot housing and the transmission box (10) through a rotating pair to drive the transmission box (10) to rotate; The steering mechanism is arranged at the bottom of the robot housing and comprises a permanent magnetic universal wheel (29) and a spring damping mechanism (30); A control system is connected to the cleaning mechanism, the garbage collection mechanism, the walking mechanism, the curved surface adaptation mechanism and the steering mechanism respectively; acoustic wave sensors are also arranged on both sides of the robot box for detecting the curvature radius of the hull where the walking mechanism is located; the acoustic wave sensor emits a pulse signal to form a fan-shaped scanning area, each pulse containing a plurality of acoustic beams arranged at the same interval; after the acoustic wave sensor receives the signal reflected from the hull surface, it combines the reflected beam direction, amplitude and phase detection results to obtain the curvature radius of the detected area; the control system controls the corresponding curved surface adaptation mechanism to adjust the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheel (9) of the walking mechanism according to the detected curvature radius, so that the permanent magnetic wheel fits and adsorbs on the hull surface; The two hydraulic cylinders (11) of the curved surface adaptation mechanism are connected to the servo hydraulic pump station (21) through hydraulic oil pipes; a two-way hydraulic lock (12) is arranged on a hydraulic oil pipe connected to the hydraulic cylinder; in the process of adjusting the inclination angle of the permanent magnetic wheel (9), the control system controls the servo hydraulic pump station to supply oil to the two hydraulic cylinders (11) respectively, and after the hydraulic cylinders (11) are oiled, the push rods are respectively extended and retracted by a certain length, driving the two transmission boxes (10) to rotate around the pivots of the corresponding elastic hinges (17) to a predetermined angle, so that the two permanent magnetic wheels (9) are completely adsorbed on the surface of the hull.

2. The underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull according to claim 1, characterized in that: A screw propeller (1) is respectively arranged at the four corners of the robot housing, and each screw propeller (1) is electrically connected to the control system and adjusts the underwater posture of the underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot under the control of the control system.

3. The underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull according to claim 1, characterized in that: The robot box is provided with a camera (6) located in front of the cleaning mechanism, and the camera is electrically connected to the control system.

4. The underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull according to claim 3, characterized in that: The control system is connected to a communication system, and the control system transmits back images captured by the camera (6) via the communication system.

5. The underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull according to claim 1, characterized in that: The robot box is provided with spotlights (8) located on both sides of the cleaning mechanism.

6. The underwater garbage cleaning and recovery robot for a curved hull according to claim 1, characterized in that: The garbage recycling mechanism also includes a first motor for driving the crushing screw (14) to rotate and a second motor for driving the spiral centrifugal pump (27).

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